Internal lock nut



Nov. 6, 1945. F. 1.1-: B LORD INTERNAL LOCK NUT Filed Oct. 3, 1944 INVENTOR fin/ms 1551mm Z0190.

ATTORN EY Patented Nov. 6, 1945 UNITED STAT ES PATENT orr cr.

INTERNAL LOCK NUT Francis Le Barron Lord, Bloomfield, N. 1., as-

signor to Titelox Manufacturing Company, Montclair, N. 1., a corporation of New Jersey Application October 3, 1944,'Serial No. 556,982 2 Claims. (Cl. 151-19) J This invention relates to locking devices, such as internal lock nuts and the like. It is the obiect of this invention to provide an internal lock nut unit adapted to be readily assembled in a manner which will seal the parts together to preclude their accidental displacement due to vibration or other extraneous forces, and, at the same time, will permit them to be disengaged when so desired, without damage to the parts. v

An embodiment of a structure employing my invention is shown in the accompanying drawing and described in detail in the ensuing specificasuch that the .intemal member H can initially the head 25 of the member 2! will cause further tion. This embodiment is merely by way of ex-,

ample and my invention is not limited thereto but includes all other forms which would come within the scope of the appended claims.

Inthe drawing, r

Fig. 1 is a disassembled, perspective view of the internal lock nut unit of my invention, comprising an internal and external member.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal plan view th'ereoi'; partly sectional, taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 3, showing the internal lock nut unit in assembled relation,

Fig. 3 is a vertical, partly sectional, partly fragmentary, view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2, in the direction of the arrows, and

Fig. 4 graphically illustrates the comparative effectiveness of the internal lock nut unit of my invention relative to standard thread engaging members.

threading of the internal member so that the internal member II will be progressively further advanced into the external member l2 against the resistance offered by virtue of the fact that the internal member ll is being advanced toward the tapered end of the aperture I! of smaller diameter. The internal member H ad vances into the external member l2 in the In the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing, the internal lock nut unit It) comprises an internal member II adapted to be received within an external member |2..

The internal member is externally {tapered and is internally apertured and threaded as at l4 and is provided with an external key is and with an axial slit I 6. The external member I 2 :sprovided with an internal tapered aperture l1 and is externally threaded as at [8 and provided with an axial slit I9 and with'transverse recesses 20-20 at the upper end thereof, or the like, to :facilitate initially threading the external member into the threads 2| defining the aperture of object 22 to be engaged by the internal 1 lock nut unit of my invention for the purpose of. holding another object 22 thereto or foranalogous purpose.

disassembled form 01' the parts shown in Fig. 1, I

wider than key I 5.

The other relative dimension oi the parts are with threaded aperture 2|.

threading operation described in the general direction indicated by the arrow 26 (Fig. 3) in the longitudinal axis of the internal lock nut unit Ill. The internal member I I is simultaneously moved laterally at right angles to the plane axis indicated by the arrow 26, into positive pressure contact with the th'reads 23 of the member 24 and the external member I2 is expanded at right angles to arrow 26 and into pressure contact It is thus possible to obtain a high degree oi. efficiency in the transmission of energy exerted in the rotating of the member-24 to the interengag'ing of threads I 4 and 23. This is attained by virtue of the fact that the force exerted on the threaded portion ll of the internal member II will be the product of the movement of the member II on the general longitudinal axis thereof indicated by the arrow" multiplied by its movement at a. plane at right angles thereto generally designated by the arrows 21 and into contact with threads 21 and simultaneous expansion of external member l2 as above described.

' The internal member I I maybe provided at its lower end with a peripheralflange 28 adapted to abut the external member when the parts are fully engaged as in Fig. 3 to provide a stop preventing excessive engagement of the parts and excessive expansion of the external member H in the object 22, which may be of a comparatively soft plastic, metal or other material. For this purpose, theperipheral flange may also have an upwardly pointed edge as indicated in Fig. 3.

The external member under pressure could not rotate; it merely expands, in the assembly operation.

The key I5 is located at a predetermined cirthe many possible locations of the slit IB being indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2 and three possible locations for slit l6 being indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1) of the internal member I I so that one may obtain a predetermined wrapping effect to resist disengagement of the parts generally corresponding to the effect of wrapping a loop about a rod wherein more than half of the loop is wrapped on the rod when desired. If the key I5 is located diametrically opposite the slit l6 (which would be at a point substantially 180 from the mits the internal member H to be tightly compressed on the threaded portion 23 of the member 24 and the slit I9 of external member l2 permits the latter to expand into thread 2i so that all surfaces of the engaging threads will be pressure bound together and in contact. This feature is graphically illustrated in Fig. 4, indicating that the oppositely inclined planarpsurfaces of the threads 18 and 2| (the same applying equally to threads l4 and 23) have this binding, contacting effect, resulting in a 100% pressure engagement of the threada'whereas in the engagement of the threaded member A, which may be the conventional nut, with a second threaded member B, which may be the conventional bolt, only part of one series of parallel planar surfaces of the threads engage with part of the adjacent parallel series of planar surfaces of the threads. In recognition of thi fact, it has been customary to flatten the crests of the threads of members A and B as shown in Fig. 4 so that the efiectively engaging surfaces of the conventional threaded bolt and nut is only 37% as against the 100% threaded engagement in the use of the internal lock nut unit of my invention.

7 On assembly of the parts as shown in Fig. 3, the threads I8'and 2|, l4 and 23 will be fully engaged as described above so as .to provide an effective seal and the .parts will automatically tend to resist displacement due to vibration or other extraneous forces. To disengage the parts, the head 25 of member 24 is rotated in a reverse direction to that used in the assembly of the parts. After rotating the member 24 for part of a revolution, it may be tapped downwardly in a direc tion reverse to that of the arrow 26; this action will shift the internal member in the aperture l1, breaking the taper seal so that further rotation of the member 24 to disengage the parts may be had with comparative ease. The means for axially keying the internal member H in the external member l2 may comprise a means equivalent to the key l5 and slit l9 within the purview of this invention.

Definitions: The term predetermined wrapping efiect as used in the specification and claims hereof shall be deemed to mean the location of the slit l8 relative to the keying means so that on engagement or disengagement of the members a wrapping effect i attained where the slit is located other than 180 from the keying means and where the slit is located at 180 from the keying means the wrapping effect is nil-in short, the term shall be deemed to mean predetermining whether and if so the degree of the wrapping eiiect to be attained by the relative location of the parts referred to. The parts may be made of any desirable or suitable material and the dimensions thereof may be varied to suit the requirements of the use to which the same are to be put, the representation in the drawing being solely for the sake of illustrating one embodiment of the invention;

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Paten is: s

1. An internal lock nut comprising an externally threaded member for threaded engagement with a threaded aperture, said member being provided with an axial slit and having an internal tapered aperture, and an internal member ex temally complementarily tapered and adapted to be inserted into the aperture of said first named member, said internal member being internally the first mentioned member as to provide a predetermined wrapping effect when the parts are assembled and engage a threaded member.

2. An internal lock nut comprising an externally threaded member for threaded engagement with a threaded aperture, said .member being provided with an axial slit and having an internal tapered aperture, and an internal member externally complementarily tapered adapted to be inserted into the aperture of said first named member, said internal member being internally threaded for engagement by a threaded member and. being provided with an axial slit and with an external key adapted to be received in the slit of said first mentioned member to key the internal member therein for axial reciprocation therein, and being further provided with a, flanged head at the lower end thereof, said key being so disposed relative to the slit as to provide a predetermined wrapping effect when the parts are assembled and engage a threaded member.

. F. LE BARRON LORD. 

